


Champion

by Jingle



Category: Phineas and Ferb
Genre: Bully Bromance Breakup, Character Study, Episode Related, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-23
Updated: 2013-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-05 18:30:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1097249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jingle/pseuds/Jingle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Baljeet had never before felt the way he did climbing Danville Mountain, leaving him with a lot to think about for some time after. Based on the episode "Bully Bromance Breakup".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Champion

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about Baljeet Tjinder.
> 
> This is my second attempt at a character study, and I think this one actually fits the term.

There was a champion deep within Baljeet. This was not something he always knew; it was something he had to discover for himself, climbing Danville Mountain that day. He had been brave, bold, spontaneous, and quite simply not himself. It had been thrilling and wonderful. He’d felt so _good_ about who he was during that trek. That’s not to say Baljeet disliked himself the rest of the time, because he didn’t, he’d just enjoyed himself more than ever before during that time.

It had to be the freedom from Buford that let him be that way. That’s what he’d thought initially, at least, even then, when Buford was no longer a scary threat. Even then, when Buford was a friend and Baljeet didn’t normally see him as a problem. But fed up with Buford in the moment, completely annoyed, it was easy to blame the other boy for the fact that Baljeet had never before been the boy he was that day.

When he started to miss Buford, he’d had to make a choice, and ultimately, his chose his friend. (Along with a taste of revenge) He must have been meant to be a nerd, he decided, justifying his decision to himself. He couldn’t _really_ change who he was. The thinking there should have made it so obvious, but it was quite some time before Baljeet had to acknowledge the truth.

Once he got a taste of the champion within, he could never completely forget it. He went back to being himself, or at least the self he was used to, but as time passed, he couldn’t shake the feeling that the courage and joy and freedom were still there, if he could only let them out. Should he, though? That wasn’t who he _was._

And he had to realize, then, that it had never had anything to do with Buford. This was how he’d labeled himself: the nerd, the planner, the safe one. This was the identity he’d clung to, and though it had been very slowly slipping away all along, he’d been too scared and too  _comfortable_ in his role to truly see that. He only knew he could be something different when the difference was all so much that it hit him right in the face.

So then Baljeet knew. He didn’t have to have perfect grades and always go with reason. He didn’t have to overthink and worry. He didn’t have to be the nerd. He could be the champion, but change was scary. Especially change in one’s self. There came a series of days of near-isolation where he tried to decide who he would be; if he was ready to take the plunge and live up to a different potential than the one he’d always sought to reach.

And if he did that, would he really still be him?

But finally, the light came, and Baljeet found contentedness in the realization that he could strike a balance. He didn’t have to define himself with a label or be _perfect_ to be smart. He didn’t have to forgo all planning and caution to have moments of spontaneity. And he didn’t have to be fearless to be brave. Perhaps someday he would be the one he’d been on that mountain again, or perhaps he didn’t need to.


End file.
